Where do unemployed people go?

by Mark Christopher Viuda (Philippines)

I didn't expect to find Philippines

In 2016, I graduated from college. Employment was next. Anxious, I harbored many questions: Will I ever get a decent job? A decent salary? Should I find greener pastures abroad instead, and disappoint our tax payers who funded my state university education just so I could serve my country? To tame my anxiety, I had to go somewhere. It was a cloudy July afternoon when I joined an unplanned trip to Baguio City, the Summer Capital of the Philippines. We reached Baguio at dusk. Our first destination was Burnham Park. It has a so placid lake that any reflection, if a gust of wind try to shatter the image into ripples, looks like an abstract painting. After dinner, we rode a taxi to where we'd be staying. Sitting in the passenger seat, the city lights strewing all over Baguio looked utterly exquisite and abundant like stars. I realized that coming to Baguio was the first ever trip and the first ever big decision I made after college. I would be making more huge decisions in the future. I should better go to sleep, I thought. We weren't really so sure where we'd be going the next day. Sometimes, it’s okay not to be so sure. If we are, what’s the point of adventure? The whizzing sound of the wind woke us up. We later found out that a southwest monsoon, enhanced by the then strengthening typhoon outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), would bring scattered rains to parts of Luzon, one of the major islands in the archipelago. Clad in weather-defying outfits, we rode a jeepney to downtown area, overlooking breathtaking rugged terrains. After lunch, we decided to head to Baguio Botanical Garden, making our way through clashing bodies in multiple layers of clothes. Even though there was an impending monsoon, many tourists still came that day. Afterward, our feet and budget brought us to Mines View Park. Overlooking the mining town of Itogon, the park is one of the hottest attractions in the city. At the observation deck, people waited for their turn to take pictures. Mostly, I just stood there, observing, reconnecting myself with what I had seemed lost: Wanderlust. I took a picture of myself and used it as my new profile picture on Facebook. I captioned it, “Where do unemployed people go?” I drew inspiration from the song, “Where do broken hearts go?” It was a song from “That Thing Called Tadhana,” a romantic comedy film beautifully set in some parts of Baguio. Next, we sightsaw at The Mansion, the official summer residence of the head of the state. Then, we left for Wright Park where a long stair down the hill led us to a horse-riding circle. The sorrounding pine trees, which recently declared as heritage trees by the local council, sheltered our quivering bodies. Our next stop was the haunted Diplomat Hotel, a ruin on top of Baguio’s Dominican Hill. The ruin centered two ancient-looking, ghostly trees and an ethereal fountain covered with algae. As I stepped inside the ruin, I immediately smelled something excruciating. Something close to a dead body! I immediately wiped the idea away for it began to terrify me. We then went upstairs to the rooftop. There, a picturesque view of Baguio tremendously astonished me. As I stood on top of the former hotel, cold wind blowing on my face, I felt lighter than usual. The next thing I knew my worries had been released. My sanity slowly came back. As a fresh graduate, I realized then that worries were necessary vehicles to transport us to a better place. Life only becomes a race the moment you choose to run after it. We headed back to the business district before nightfall, paddled our boats on Burnham lake, banqueted at Session Road and seized our last night in the city. I came to Baguio jobless. I went home jobless, but certainly not hopeless.